We’re just a few days away from the start of the Olympic Basketball tournament starting, and it’s an exciting time for fans. The big story, of course, is Team USA’s incoming ‘Avengers’ squad who have assembled to make up for their embarrassing medal-less finishing in the 2023 Worlds.
The Americans are clearly the most talented squad in the tournament with a roster that includes:
- LeBron James
- Steph Curry
- Kevin Durant
- Jrue Holiday
- Anthony Davis
- Joel Embiid
- Devin Booker
- Bam Adebayo
- Jayson Tatum
- Tyrese Haliburton
- Anthony Edwards
- Derrick White
However, it’s fair to note that their tuneup games have not made them seem invincible so far. In their latest tuneup game against Germany, the Americans needed a big effort from LeBron James in the fourth quarter to take a close 92-88 win.
That of course followed another scare from a few days ago, where James once again had to come to the rescue with a game-winning driving layup to help his country survive am embarrassing loss to South Sudan – a country that doesn’t even have any indoor basketball courts and have become the darlings of casual fans.
They’ll at least have a bit more confidence heading into their first game of the Olympic Tournament against Serbia, as they handily beat them 105-79 behind 24 points from Steph Curry who is on his maiden and potentially only Olympic run for the US.
Still, even with such an overwhelming abundance of talent, it feels like this might be the year that the Americans could be at their most vulnerable. They already (unsurprisingly) lost Kawhi Leonard to injury, which ended with him being replaced by Derrick White. Kevin Durant, on the other hand, still hasn’t played as he works his way back from his own ailments.
It’s also a little strange that they only had a single player that had a positive plus/minus in all of their five exhibition games.
One last thing that is in Team USA’s favor is that they have, by far, the easiest group in the entire tournament. Serbia are the only credible threat against them, as the other two teams are Puerto Rico and South Sudan.
